A Fresh Start
by Manifest My Destiny
Summary: Going back in time; Pearl and Leo have both passed on, Hal's at loss; looking for someone...anyone to be able to rely on. He then re-meets Cutler and their two world's start to collide...
1. Chapter 1

Hal moped around the empty house, the silence cloaking it abnormally. He finished packing the very few things that his orderly room bore.

As he clipped the final suitcase shut, he let out a sigh of thought, rubbing his head as if in pain. He pushed himself up off the floor and wandered across the landing. He stopped momentarily outside Leo's room, pain stabbing at his motionless heart.

He gingerly reached out a shaking hand and pulled the door shut, hearing it's familiar creek as the hinges folded shut. The familiar empty feeling swamped Hal once more as he realised that neither Leo nor Pearl were ever coming back; he was truly alone once more…

Suddenly, a brief rapping on the shop door pushed these thoughts from his mind. He paused, unsure on whether the sound was just a figure of his imagination. Silence…then another knock. Hal meekly traipsed down the stairs and into the backroom of the shop, not daring to peer out. Then a voice was heard.

"Hal! I know you're in there; I can smell you!" the voice called through the door and continued to knock.

Hal emerged from the back room, cautiously poking his head out first to try and get a glimpse of the stranger.

When his whole body was on show, he slowly proceeded towards the door. Through the frosted glass pane of the window in the door, he could roughly make out the build and features of the visitor; medium height of average build and floppy hair. Hal sniffed the air, he recognised the scent almost immediately; how could he ever possibly forget that one. It could only ever belong to one person…

"It's me; it's Cutler for goodness sakes! Open the door!"

Hal swiftly proceeded towards the door and opened it, staring open wide at the visitor standing before him.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Hal said, his voice a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. Cutler ignored this statement.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?"

Hal stopped for a moment; weighing up his options before reluctantly mumbling "Come in," and stepped aside, allowing Cutler to enter the shop floor. He stood looking round for a moment before speaking.

"Nice place you've got here" he said, walking around, examining the place. "Barber shop; didn't think that was really your style,"

Hal grumbled in response; "Don't play it Mr. Innocent with me, Cutler, what the Hell are you doing here?" Cutler seemed to make no effort to answer the question before proceeding with his next statement.

"It took me a while, but I found you. I finally found you" he stopped, facing Hal at a distance before speaking again, his voice quiet but consistent. "Answer me one thing, Hal, why?" Hal lowered his gaze and stared silently at the floor, not knowing how to respond. Cutler continued, his voice returning to normal volume, contorted with anger; "You think I don't have the right to know? I've spent all these years tracking you down, trying to find where you went, why you went, why you LEFT me…" he paused, his breathing ragged from his slight outburst. Hal shrank back, increasing the distance between him and Cutler, mumbling some inaudible words and lowering his head to match his gaze.

"You're STILL not going to tell me? How long has it been? Fifty years? Fifty bloody years and you still can't face up to the music? You're a fucking joke!"

With this, Hal raised his head, his eyes narrowed, his voice low and husky. "Don't you dare talk to me like that,"

"I deserve an answer, Hal, until I get one, I'll talk to you however I bloody like!"

Hal straightened up to his full height, taking a step towards Cutler, staring at him in the eye. "Do you not remember who I am?" Hal advanced again, "maybe I should remind you…" with increasing confidence and stature, Hal proceeded to walk towards Cutler, walking around behind him and whispering in his ear. "I'm Henry Yorke, Lord Harry, your creator. I killed your wife, I turned you against humanity, I took everything that you had away from you…I turned you into a monster…"

Cutler shuddered and let out a tiny whimper of emotional pain.

"Oh, so you remember now, do you? You remember the times that we spent together; killing the innocent, changing the useful…the times that we spent making history"

Cutler turned around, tears glistening in his eyes and gazed into Hal's. "I'm sorry…I'm s-so so sorry," he dropped his gaze. Hal exhaled slowly, reaching up and readjusting Cutler's tie, running his hand down the soft fabric once he had finished, slowly letting it drop back against Cutler's chest.

Cutler looked up, meeting Hal's gaze once more. "I've missed you,"

Hal stared back, letting down his defences, "I've missed us…"


	2. Chapter 2

Hal awoke with a start, his breathing heavy from the encounter of his nightmare; the same nightmare that occurs every single night - the nightmares of events from his past. He wiped a solemnly bead of sweat from his forehead away with the back of his hand as he flattened down his bed-styled hair. He rose, getting dressed before, routinely, making his bed and checking that every other of his belongings were in their rightful place.

Once complete, he slipped out of his room and padded along the corridor, rubbing his eyes blearily in the sudden light.

"Morning" a voice called brightly as Hal entered the kitchen. He jumped internally as his eyes prevailed Cutler sitting at the rickety wooden table in the centre of the room. Hal, silently nodded in greeting, his mind running over the events of the previous night; Cutler turning up on the doorstep, inviting him in, saying that he could stay...a weight suddenly sunk in Hal's body.

As he thought to himself he wandered over to the counter in the far corner of the room to escape the somewhat piercing gaze of his once beloved companion, Nick Cutler.  
Nick knew better than to keep following Hal with his gaze so kept his back turned on him as he spoke.

"Sleep well?"

"Adequately" Hal responded promptly before silence fell on the room. Nick cleared his throat as if some sort of prompt for Hal to continue. "Yourself?"

"Not too bad" Nick paused, taking a breath "Listen, I know how hard this must be..."

"Do we have to have this conversation now?" Hal interjected, his voice hard and unchallenging almost as if he was making a statement rather than asking a question.  
"Just let me finish...please"  
Hal sighed but stayed silent from then on.

"I just wanted to say, thank you for letting me stay." Cutler said firmly. Hal grunted in response then silence descended on the room once more.

Nick drummed his fingers nervously on the table which caused Hal to turn his head ever so slightly so Nick was in his peripheral vision. Nick, sensing Hal's gaze looked up and their eyes locked. A flicker of recognition of the 'old Hal' flickered through Hal's iris' before they returned to the empty shells they were before.

"There's uh…coffee left if you want some…" Nick said as Hal turned his head back around and stared out of the window again.

"Don't drink coffee,"

"Oh?"

"Le..." Hal stopped, frozen in fear of saying Leo's name "…A f-friend told me that it's best to stay off thing that include too much caffeine"

"Oh." Nick responded sullenly. "And this 'friend' of yours was the dog that lived here as well then I presume?"

The word dog registered in Hal's and before he could stop himself he found himself with his hand jammed around Nick's neck who was rammed up against the kitchen wall, struggling for breath.

"Don't you _dare _call him a dog; understand?"

Nick nodded feebly, too weak to make any sound. Hal released his grip causing Nick to slump down against the wall and land heavily at the bottom. Hal turned around again, worried that Nick would spot the range of confused, ashamed and guilty emotions that were crossing his face at that particular moment.

A few minutes passed whilst neither spoke, though the silence was somewhat calming. Finally, Hal drew a breath before turning to look at Nick who still stayed sat at the foot of the wall, twiddling his thumbs nervously.

"Still Cautious old Cutler then…" Hal said, his voice barely above a whisper. Nick summoned enough courage to look up, meeting Hal's gaze again.

"You remember that?"

"Of course I do. I'll never forget." A small smile flickered across Nick's face which was quickly followed by a faint one appearing on Hal's face as he presented his hand which Nick took gratefully as Hal pulled him upright so they were standing face to face.

"Cautious Cutler and Hoarder Hal," Nick said, not even trying to suppress his ever-growing smile.

"…Back together again." Hal finished, his smile firming slightly as he looked down at their hands which were still joined.


	3. Chapter 3

The clock struck four o'clock as the dismal rain pattered rhythmically on the window pane. Hal sat with his hands folded neatly in his lap and attempted the near impossible task of counting each droplet.

So sucked into his task, Hal barely noticed Nick Cutler knocking softly at his door. Only did he realise Nick's presence when the scent of his companion reached his nostrils. Hal said nothing – he didn't need to.

He turned his head slowly to look upon the doorway to which Nick now inhabited.

"I know you were told to stay off caffeine," he said, proceeding into the pristine room, "But I thought you might like a cup of tea…I made it with leaves and everything – just like you taught me," Nick smiled proudly, just like a child who'd just eaten all of their greens.

Hal murmured in approval as Nick handed him the cup and pulled up and chair to sit down as well. A companionable silence fell among them and all there was to be heard was the patter of the rain that had got heavier.

This situation stayed the same for a considerable amount of time, all of which Hal hadn't touched the tea. Nick, although noticing this action, stayed in silence as well.

It wasn't until the rain softened slightly that Nick decided to speak up.

"There's been…there's been something I've been meaning to ask," he said, a different tone within his voice. Hal, not batting an eyelid, replied almost instantly.

"And what's that then?"

Nick paused and took a breath before continuing. "Well, well…what now?"

Hal dragged his gaze away from watching the last few drops of rain that slid down the window to look at Nick whose eyes were full of trust.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said – what do we do now?"

"What is it 'exactly' that you're hoping I'm going to say?" Hal's gaze pierced Nick's.

"W-w-well, I don't know, get away from here for a start…"

"Get away from here?" Hal started, "This is my home, I'm not leaving,"

"But…but…they'll be able to track us down here, I did it easy eno…"

Hal cut Nick off mid stream, confusion evident in his voice. "Who'll be able to track us down?"

Nick's eyes widened, "you haven't heard?" he paused, in which time Hal shook his head slowly, which in turn motioned for Cutler to continue, "The Old One's are coming back…"


	4. Chapter 4

It took Hal a few moments for what Cutler was saying to register with him but when it did, fear rocketed through him.

"The Old Ones?" Hal thought to himself, "Impossible. Why would they be coming here? To England? Surely they trusted that the country was being carefully monitored by senior vampires? Or…maybe…maybe…it's the time which Mr Snow spoke of all those centuries ago…"

"The revolution…no one gets left behind" Hal repeated aloud unblinkingly to himself, "They're coming back for the revolution, he switched his gaze onto Nick who's expression was a mixture of fear and confusion.

"What do you mean? 'The revolution'?"

Hal stood up promptly, "It means that that Snow's coming back here, to Britain, with the rest of the Old Ones…they're going to change the world. Killing and recruiting." Hal's voice rose, bordering on panicked, "He often spoke about it, how one day Vampires would rule the world. He obviously thinks now's the right time."

Nick's tone of voice matched Hal's., "And they want all of us to help" he finished.

Hal strode across to the opposite side of the room, covering his face with his hands. Nick stayed where he was, watching out the window as the rain started to fall again.

"We've got to do something, Hal. We can't let them just try and take over this world,"

"Especially when they don't deserve it," Hal added, still shielding his face.

Nick got up and traced Hal's stepped, stopping behind him and resting a hand gently on his shoulder, whispering; "We can do this. Together, we can stop them,"

At these words, Hal slowly retracted his hands.

"History makers, remember?" Nick continued, "This is our time to make history,"

With a new found hope, Hal turned to face Cutler. As their eyes met, the future was already in the process of rewriting itself. The companions, back together again. The companions that were about to make history…

"We'd better get started then," Hal said, turning to look out of the window at the darkening skies, "A storm's brewing…"


End file.
